Texting While Driving

[GreatLakesGramma]

I have never seen Dr. Phil's show, but I came across this video, and I wholeheartedly agree with his assessment of this girl's character.

[Amelia]

I can't believe that girls mother "didn't know what to do"? Take away the phone and the car keys already!!! She is spoiled silly and momma made her that way.

[Gregory Matthews]

My ex-wife was stopped at a red-light when a teen driver who was texting drove his car into hers. In the first five days she ran up over $100,000 of medical bills. Her care was totaled. More than a dozen pieces of metal were placed in her femur in a attempt to rebuild her leg. She was off of work for many months. For a long time she was unable to walk without assisstance and of course unable to drive. To this day, her life has been permantly changed.

And the teen: No injuries. The car was owned by his aged grandmother. No financial responsibility for anyone.

[Gerr]

You gotta be a moron to be texting while driving. I am very leary even answering or making a phone call

while driving (I do that only in connection with my profession.)

[GreatLakesGramma]

I agree, Amelia. The very first incident, I would have taken her phone away, and grounded her for at least a month.

[phkrause]

I also agree with Dr. Phil, GLG and I can't stand him. I don't believe that watching that video would this girl. She'd probably say that that wouldn't happen to her. It's almost the same as a quadropalegic (sp) speaking to kids about making sure your wearing sitbelts other wise you will be like me. All would say that that wont happen to me. This girl like Phil was saying is so arrogant that she wont think this is gonna happen to her. Unfortunately the only way she will learn, and I'm not sure it really will, is if she kills someone and has to spent time in jail. Not sure that grounding her for 1 month would help. It will have to be for much longer.

pk

[GreatLakesGramma]

One month would be for the first incident. After the second, she would never, ever drive my car again. She would have to buy her own car & pay for her own insurance, or just plain not drive.

Actually, if she were my daughter, she wouldn't even have a license, until she could pay the cost of insuring her. We never paid a penny of insurance for our kids' driving. We just kept renewing their permits until they each got their own car & insurance. Our sons were both adults before they had their licenses. Our daughter was 17. They all got jobs first.

[bonnie]

16 Year olds do not have the maturity to have control of what amounts to a loaded weapon.

[SivartM]

16 Year olds do not have the maturity to have control of what amounts to a loaded weapon.

None of them? Not one? What about 18-year-olds? They're only two years older.

[phkrause]

I got mine at 18 in NYC. I drove with my father maybe twice, than with a driving school for 6 times. When I first got in the car and started driving, he asked me how long I'd been driving, because he said no one he ever taught could the car the way I did. Told him I'd only been twice he couldn't believe it. Than asap I took my drivers test and passed. Its hard enough to use the cellphone let alone text in the car. I don't think it will be to long before they ban the use of cell phone's by the driver. Oh and I don't think 18 yr olds are anymore mature than 16 yr olds. I know I wasn't.

pk

[bonnie]

Originally Posted By: bonnie

16 Year olds do not have the maturity to have control of what amounts to a loaded weapon.

None of them? Not one? What about 18-year-olds? They're only two years older.

I don't believe sixteen year olds are mature enough.No matter how responsible they may be they are still sixteen.

There was a world of difference between my boys at sixteen and at eighteen.

[Gregory Matthews]

I got my license to drive at 14. But, then that was in the old days and the preceeding century.

[bonnie]

I got my license to drive at 14. But, then that was in the old days and the preceeding century.

WHAT,you and I are from the same century??

My mother sent for hers I think when she was about 14.

A whole lot different than turning a 16 year old loose on the roads and traffic we have today.

Thankfully,most survive it,but many do not.

At 16 they still walk on their brains frequently. At 18 our boys had done quite a bit of maturing

[Gregory Matthews]

The bottom line: There was one time when I was 15 that I did not use my brain, and people could have died.

No one was injured. I did not get caught. I learned my lesson.

[bonnie]

The bottom line: There was one time when I was 15 that I did not use my brain, and people could have died.

No one was injured. I did not get caught. I learned my lesson.

Some 16 year olds do learn,some are just fortunate. The heartache comes in those 16 year olds that do not get the opportunity to learn and end up putting themselves or others in a grave.

18 years old is not a magic age,but it is two more years of maturity

[SivartM]

At 16 they still walk on their brains frequently. At 18 our boys had done quite a bit of maturing

Right. Excuse me, I'm going to drive as fast as I can just for fun!

Because I can't really see how "mature" one has to be to simply drive a car. I would think that coordination would be a more important factor.

Sorry, but as someone who is between the ages of 16 and 17 (and who was 16 a few months ago, actually), and has never had any urges to do anything stupid when driving, I respectfully disagree with those who try to tell teenagers they aren't "mature" enough to do something. They may not be, but that's because you don't expect them to be! There are 10-year-olds in other times and cultures twice as mature as the average American 18-year-old. A few hundred years ago, people expected teenagers, especially older ones, to actually be mature enough to do "grown-up" things. Nowadays we'd just as soon lock them up until they turn 30.

I may not be the most mature person in the world, but I've met my fair share of immature adults, which shows that age and maturity do not necessarily go together for everyone. Lots of people "walk on their brains", and quite a few are older than 16.

[bonnie]

Quote:

Because I can't really see how "mature" one has to be to simply drive a car. I would think that coordination would be a more important factor.

The above really explains my point better than I did

Quote:

Sorry, but as someone who is between the ages of 16 and 17 (and who was 16 a few months ago, actually), and has never had any urges to do anything stupid when driving, I respectfully disagree with those who try to tell teenagers they aren't "mature" enough to do something. They may not be, but that's because you don't expect them to be!

There are many things teenagers are not mature enough for.

What we expected from our children is not something you would know.

Teenagers need guidance and parents willing to do that.

Quote:

There are 10-year-olds in other times and cultures twice as mature as the average American 18-year-old. A few hundred years ago, people expected teenagers, especially older ones, to actually be mature enough to do "grown-up" things. Nowadays we'd just as soon lock them up until they turn 30.

We are not living in other times and cultures. We had one chance to raise and guide our boys.Certain responsibilities come with being a parent.

We throughly enjoyed our boys and their friends in their teen years

Quote:

I may not be the most mature person in the world, but I've met my fair share of immature adults, which shows that age and maturity do not necessarily go together for everyone. Lots of people "walk on their brains", and quite a few are older than 16.

That is very true but at least adults even if immature have a sense of their own mortality.

Most teens cannot conceive they may not live forever. As well as believing they are capable of most anything.

For us our sons understood from early on,keep your nose clean,graduate high school and your graduation present will be a car. If they continued on with school we would pay insurance and upkeep. Get a ticket and they were off our policy and on their own.

[SivartM]

Most teens cannot conceive they may not live forever. As well as believing they are capable of most anything.

Which was the point I was trying to make above. I doubt that you know "most teens", and that you have any non-anecdotal evidence to back up this claim. I would guess that there are plenty of teens who do not fit this narrow, generalized description.

I, personally, know that I won't live forever (unless Jesus comes before I die, but for all practical purposes...), and that there are quite a few things I'm incapable of. If that is your objection to teen driving, why am I still not mature enough? What happens at 18 that makes people "mature" enough to drive? Why not 17? Why not make sure they're extra mature and wait until they're 21 (and there are plenty of people who drink alcohol very IMMATURELY at that age)?

Maybe there should be a maturity scale. Teenagers could be tested annually to determine their maturity level, which would determine when they would be allowed to participate in "grown-up" things. Then we'd have a bunch of 40-year-olds who aren't allowed to drive, and 14-year-olds who are allowed to vote. Wonderful.

[bonnie]

Quote:

Which was the point I was trying to make above. I doubt that you know "most teens", and that you have any non-anecdotal evidence to back up this claim. I would guess that there are plenty of teens who do not fit this narrow, generalized description.

I am very familiar with teens.

We raised eight children ,we have several grandchildren in their teens. I enjoy teens probably better than any age group.

I am sure there are teens that are very responsible.

Statistics do not agree with your statements. Teens are a extremely high risk. Insurance rates for teens are very high and that is for a reason. People that have lived longer than you and have dealt with the numbers of deaths and economic cost show a much different story.When we insured our boys at 18,we paid less than half of what we would have at 16. Again there is a reason for that

Quote:

I, personally, know that I won't live forever (unless Jesus comes before I die, but for all practical purposes...), and that there are quite a few things I'm incapable of. If that is your objection to teen driving, why am I still not mature enough? What happens at 18 that makes people "mature" enough to drive? Why not 17? Why not make sure they're extra mature and wait until they're 21 (and there are plenty of people who drink alcohol very IMMATURELY at that age)?

Logically knowing you will not live forever is not quite the same as the invincible attitude most young people have. People at 18 do not magically become mature drivers.In the life of a young person 2 years can add substantially to maturity. At 18 our boys were on their own if they chose to live away from home. Young people do drink and drive,foolish adults do as well. Mine did not.

18 years old does not prevent tragedies,does not make certain a teen won't drink and drive,does not guarantee a mature young adult. It does give a little more edge than 16 does.

There was no guarantee that we would get more than one chance to do it right.

Our boys did well,went on to become the mature christian men we hoped they would be. Waiting till 18 did not seem to hurt them any

Quote:

Maybe there should be a maturity scale. Teenagers could be tested annually to determine their maturity level, which would determine when they would be allowed to participate in "grown-up" things. Then we'd have a bunch of 40-year-olds who aren't allowed to drive, and 14-year-olds who are allowed to vote. Wonderful.

I am all for graduated legal privileges for young people to drive.

The extremes you choose to take this again proves my point.

I am not responsible for you so you do not need to prove to me how mature you are.